Fluid diffuser device having a triangular shaped container



June 1966 F. E. DE LONCKER, SR 3,254,841

FLUID DIFFUSER DEVICE HAVING A TRIANGULAR SHAPED CONTAINER Filed May 12, 1964 "M m Mm m x m g u a W 0 L 5 mm 0 2 M 42 2 0 m4 E5 5 23 4 4 m n 6 W 4 L 8 3 T 2 Z32 2 3 Z 6 6 w 4 w Frank E. DeLonc/ren Sr.

1N VENTOR.

United States Patent 3,254,841 FLUID DIFFUSER DEVICE HAVING A TRI- ANGULAR SHAPED CONTAINER Frank E. De Loucker, Sr., P.0. Box 396, Warrenville, Ill. Filed May 12, 1964, Ser. No. 366,712 4 Claims. (Cl. 23942) This invention relates to liquid dispensing devices which are usually portable and functionally designed and structurally adapted to be hung on and suspended from a room wall or an equivalent vertical support and which serve to contain a volatile liquid or fluid which when controllably dispensed evaporates slowly at ordinary temperatures upon being exposed to surrounding air and permeates the air.

An object of the present invention is to offer producers and consumers and especially persons who specialize in insect exterminating and odor control a simple, practical and economical dispenser which effectually serves the purposes for which it is intended, for example, a novelly constructed onepiece easy-to-handle unit. This unit functions to supply and properly dispense volatile chemical liquids which evaporate and are transformed into air permeating vapors, the vapors thus emitted serving to dispel airborne odors or to exterminat certain crawling and flying insects, depending on whether the chemical product is a deodorizer or insecticide, as the case may be.

The contrivance or device herein disclosed is purely mechanical and free of relatively movable complicating component parts. It is characterized briefly by an elongated tank or container constituting a reservoir for the supply of fluid, has upper and lower troughs below the bottom of the container with one trough, the upper or top one, comparatively narrow and the lower one wider to serve as an overflow trap. The construction functions substantially automatically for containing and dispensing sanitizing fluids or liquids. Predetermined fluids may be dispensed depending upon the results sought. For example, the fluid can be a simple deodorant, an appropriate liquid insecticide, or a liquid medicament which is capable of producing vapors for predetermined treatment of patients and so on.

More specifically the invention is characterized by a volatile liquid or fluid containing and dispensing, vaporizing and diflusing device. This device comprises a semicircular trough having a front wall and a rear wall joined along bottom portions by an intervening curvate bottom wall, said trough being wholly open at its top and adapted to contain and retain a fluid evaporating wick, a triangular fluid container disposed in a plane above the plane of said open .top, said container embodying a planar rear vertical wall, a planar top wall at right angles to and projecting forwardly from said rear wall, and a rearwardly and downwardly sloping front wall converging and joining that lower portion of said rear wall and defining a vertex portion, the latter being in line and integrated with the upper edge of the rear wall of said trough, said vertex portion having at least one fluid gravitating orifice, and said top wall having a filler hole and an integral upstanding supporting flange.

The invention also features a second trough which is mounted in parallelism below and directly beneath the first-named trough. Both troughs are semi-circular and properly interrelated and with top portions open, satisfactory evaporation and maximal diffusion of resulting vapors is assured. The second or bottom trough is both deeper and wider than the top trough. The top trough is joined to the vertex portion at the bottom of the tri- 'angular container so that a liquid or fluid seeps into the wick in the top or first trough and when the wick is drenched and saturated the flow of liquid will stop until the liquid evaporates and starts the flow again. The bot- 3,254,841 Patented June 7, 1966 ice tom drip trough acts to capture any excess fluid that may overflow from the narrower and smaller trough above it.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more. fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, 'and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of a fluid container, dispenser and evaporating device constructed in accordance with the invention and showing how it may be hung from hooks or the like on a wall or an equivalent vertical support surface;

FIGURE 2 is 'a view on an enlarged scale and appearing in section and elevation and taken on the plane of the plane of the irregular section line 33 of FIGURE 2.

It will be evident that the principal component parts are integrated into a single or one piece unit. The materials employed may be lightweight durable moldable non-corrodible metals or suitable commercial plastics as the case may require.

The aforementioned container or tank is denoted generally by the numeral 6 and it is of suitable length and size depending on the particular use for which it is to be manufactured and utilized. The disclosure herein is typical regardless of materials and size and the container is horizontally elongated and is triangular in transverse section. Accordingly, it has a substantially flat top wall 8 with at least one filler hole 10 which also has the function of a vent. The rear or back wall is flat as at 12 and is in a plane with an upstanding hanger or suspension flange 14 having hanger holes 16 to be engaged over supporting hooks or the like 18 which can be fastened in the wall or equivalent support surface 20. The front longitudinal wall 2 of this container slopes downwardly and rearwardly (from left to right in FIG. 2) and the lower portion thereof merges with the corresponding lower portion of the back wall 12 thus providing a vertex or apical portion 24. At the juncture of the two walls 22 and 12 the bottom portion ofthe front wall 22 is provided with one or more gravity type liquid dispensing and discharge orifices 26. The underlying first narrower trough 27 is commensurate in length with the length of the container and it embodies a curvate bottom wall 28 intervening and connecting an outward wall 30 and an inward wall 32 which latter is integrated with the vertex portion 24 to rigidly adjoin the componentv cross-section and both troughs 27 and 38 are the same in length and commensurate in length with the tank or reservoir 6. The rearward upstanding longitudinal wall 40 of this trough merges into and joins the coinciding portion of the first trough wall as at 42 thus putting the two walls 32 and 40 in line with each other and also in line with the back or rear wall 12 of the tank. The curvate or bottom wall is denoted at 44 and joins with the upstanding outer or front wall 46. All of these component parts, the tank or reservoir 6, first narrower and shallower trough 27 and companion or complemental larger overflow or drip trough 38 are integral. So is the upstanding flange 14. It remains to be pointed out that there are two panel-like end walls each of which is the same and each is denoted by the numeral 48. These end walls are generally flat and the inward surfaces are grooved for reception of cooperating otherwise open-end portions of the main component parts 6, 27 and 38 as brought out in FIG. 3. It will be noted that a vertical edge portion 50 (see FIG. 2) projects beyond the plane of the wall 12 and provides an abutment edge 52 which resides against the wall or other supporting surface. Consequently the walls 12, 32 and 40 are spaced slightly forward of the wall surface 20. It will be further noted that upper end portions 54 of the end walls provide sulbstantially triangular extensions for reinforcing the intervening flange 14 and rigidifying the overall structure and extending above the plane of the tanks top wall 8.

When the wick 36 in the top trough 27 is saturated, further gravitation of fluid will stop until the liquid evaporates from the wick. This controlled arrangement will then allow more fluid to seep into the wick. The drip trough 38 will act as a channel to capture excess fluid, if any, that may overffow the trough wall 30. An additional wick will be placed in the drip channel to absorb any overflow of excess fluid. Accordingly, all fluid will be used to the maximum. The principal reason for this type unit is to dispense various volatile base chemicals into the air (1) to eliminate airborne odors with special deodorant type chemicals and (2) to eliminate flying and/or crawling insects with special insecticide fluids. The normal air circulation from indoors and/or outdoors air is all that is necessary to diffuse the deodorant or insecticide vapors into the air. The unit can be mounted on any wall or siding with mounting screws or double face tape. It should not be mounted next to an exahust fan. The same effect will be had with units installed in an air conditioning or heating system as that of a wall mounted dispenser.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changs will readily occur tothose skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A fluid containing, dispensing, vaporizing and diffusing device comprising a horizontally elongated first trough having a front wall and an opposed rear wall joined along their respective bottom portions by an intervening curvate bottom wall, said trough ibeing wholly open at its top and being adapted to contain and removably retain a fluid evaporating wick, a horizontally elongated fluid container disposed in a plane above the open top of said first trough, said container being triangular in cross-section and embodying a planar vertical wall, a planar top wall joined with and at right angles to and projecting forwardly from said vertical wall and a rearwardly downwardly sloping front wall converging toward and having its lower portion joining the lower portion of said vertical wall and cooperating therewith and defining a vertex portion, said vertex portion being aligned with, coordinated and integrally joined to an upper edge of the rear wall of said trough, the bottom wall and front wall of'said trough underlying said downwardly sloping front wall, said vertexpo-rtion having at laest one fluid gravitating orifice registering with the open top of said trough to discharge fluid from the con-- tainer into the receiver portion of the trough, the upper edge of the front wall of said trough being in a plane approximately level with the position of said orifice, said top wall having a filler hole, a second horizontally elongated trough also open at its top and situated in a plane parallel with and below said first trough and having one lengthwise wall joined to the rear wall-of said first trough, said second trough having a transverse width greater than the width of said first trough, the upper edge of a front wall of said second trough being proximal to but spaced from and in a plane below the upper edge of the front wall of said first trough whereby the receiver portion of the second trough is capable of collecting and trapping any overflow of liquid from said first trough.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 and wherein the respective ends of said container as well as said first and second troughs are closed by vertically elongated opposed spaced parallel end walls, said end walls having upper end portions rising to a level above the plane of the top wall of said container, vertical edge portions of said end walls adjacent to the rear vertical wall of said container projecting there'beyond and being adapted to contact a wall or other support surface and to space the container as well as said trough from said wall surface, and an upstanding hanger flange interposed between and integral with and extending lengthwise between said upper end portions to a plane above the top of the container.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 and wherein the curvate bottom wall of said first trough depends into the upper open side of the receiver portion of said-second trough.

4. A volatile liquid dispenser comprising a horizontally elongated hollow container triangular in cross-section and providing a reservoir for deodorizing, and similar functioning insecticidal liquids, said container having a filler hole at its top and at least one gravity-type dispensing port at its bottom, a first trough joined to the bottom of said container and underlying said port, and a second trough underlying and joined to said first trough, the latter being of a transverse cross-sectional dimension less than the cross-sectional dimension at the top of said container, said second trough being of a cross-sectional dimension greater than the cross-sectional dimension of said first trough, said container being triangular in transverse cross-section and both troughs being semi-circular in transverse cross-section, the respective ends of the container and troughs being closed by vertical end walls, upper end portions rising to a level above the top of said container, and the top of said container having an upstanding suspension fiange integral with and extending between said upper end portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 310,116 12/1884 Beale 239-44 334,078 1/1886 Latimer 239-44 1,044,969 11/1912 Arndt 239-42 1,164,624 12/1915 Appleton 239-51 1,489,071 4/ 1924 Fairfield 239-44 1,514,564 11/1924 Newcomer 239-43 2,225,963 12/ 1940 Agustine 239-44 2,991,517 7/1961 Bundy 239-43 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,902 5/1908 Great 'Britain.

M. HENSON WOOD, 1a., Primary Examiner. R. S. STROBEL, Assistant Examiner. 

4. A VOLATILE LIQUID DISPENSER COMPRISING A HORIZONTALLY ELONGATED HOLLOW CONTAINER TRIANGULAR IN CROSS-SECTION AND PROVIDING A RESERVOIR FOR DEODORIZING, AND SIMILAR FUNCTIONING INSECTICIDAL LIQUIDS, SAID CONTAINER HAVING A FILLER HOLE AT ITS TOP AND AT LEAST ONE GRAVITY-TYPE DISPENSING PORT AT ITS BOTTOM, A FIRST TROUGH JOINTED TO THE BOTTOM OF SAID CONTAINER AND UNDERLYING SAID PORT, AND A SECOND TROUGH UNDERLYING AND JOINED TO SAID FIRST TROUGH, THE LATTER BEING OF A TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSION LESS THAN THE CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSION AT THE TOP OF SAID CONTAINER, SAID SECOND TROUGH BEING OF A CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSION GREATER THAN THE CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSION OF SAID FIRST TROUGH, SAID CONTAINER BEING TRIANGULAR IN TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTION AND BOTH TROUGHS BEING SEMI-CIRCULAR IN TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTION, THE RESPECTIVE ENDS OF THE CONTAINER AND TROUGHS BEING CLOSED BY VERTICAL END WALLS, UPPER END PORTIONS RISING TO A LEVEL ABOVE THE TOP OF SAID CONTAINER, AND THE TOP OF SAID CONTAINER HAVING AN UPSTANDING SUSPENSION FLANGE INTEGRAL WITH AND EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID UPPER END PORTIONS. 